SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8056, 17 September 1887, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

SEEKING IN VAIN.

[BY THE REV. J. ELDER CAMMING, D.D.] •' Many I any unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."—L k > xlll., 24. Tity. text presents us with a difficulty that calls for explanation. It seems to say that there are some—nay, that there are many— who will honestly seek to be saved, and who shall not be permitted to be so—who are doomed even before they try. It would almost look a* if this were the solitary passage in whioh this is said, cancelling, as it were, the offer of mercy to not a few, saying that they need not attempt to escape. It puts it as if the way of deliverance was so difficult that many would seek It in vain -as if what they asked for was so preoious that they should meet wth only a refusal. And what tends to strengthen such an impression is the first part of the verse, which says, "Strive to enter in at the strait gats." First of all, the gat« is strait—that is, it is narrow. The word is not the opposite of crooked, but the opposite ot broad, as you may see from the spelling. It is a narrow gate—as if not meant for many, not meant for all. And the difficulty of getting through it seems to he enhanced by the word " strive"—push to get through. The word in Greek is strongerindeed, much stronger. It means agonise. Strive as if in agony to push through that narrow gate, for many shall *eek to get in and shall fail to find admittance. What can our Lord mean by this? Is it not apparently in opposition to the great mass of His declarations, and of the wide, free, generous offers of the Gospel ? "Whosoever will, let him come" Ho, every one that thirstetb, come ye;" " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden." Now, this needs explanation, which I hope to give when opening up the passage as a whole. It is a serious, a solemn, an all-important matter —the salvation of our souls.

1. Our first remark, then, is, that many shall seek in vain to enter in, because they are too late. They have violated the conditions of time laid down by God. That this is part of the reference in the text—l had almost said the chief thing in our Lord's mind—is evident from the parable which immediately follows. It represents people who have some intention of applying for admission into the house, but who put off till after the appointed time. Then the master of the house rises and shuts the door and fastens it, after which none can enter. Some of those who are late knock, and cry, and urge reasons for their admission. But he does not know them; they are evil workers. tie cannot open again, and they are left out in the ni|>ht —in the dark— alone. St. Luke brings the parable into immediate conjunction with the text, to show that this is meant when our Lord says that many shall seek to enter, but shall nut be able. It is just what must have happened in Noah's day ; and, as the Lord uses the story of Noah to illustrate what shall be at the time of His second coming, so we may use it to illustrate this truth in the text. When the time appointed for invitation and warning had come to an end, and Noah had gone into the ark, than God Himself shut the door, not leaving this in Noah's power or discretion. tSo that those who came after seeking to enter found it impossible. It was too late. Noah could not open from within ; God did not hear their cries from without. Notwithstanding the danger, the falling rain, the lowering sky, the rushing waters, the deluge that had been laughed at aotually begun, there was no entrance for them ! The door was shut 1

Now, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that this is the chief: thing which is meant in the text. God has dona everything in His power to warn men beforehand of what iu to come to them hereafter, telling them of the Gospel, telling them of salvation, telling them of Christ. He says in plainest terms that the offer holds for a time, during which no one is refused who really desires to enter; that everyone, without exception, may, without money and without price, obtain eternal life ; but that after the time is gone there is no more entrance. 'I he door shall then be shut, and no one whatever, on any plea, can be admitted. But if men make ligfit of the warning; if they think there is no danger, or if they are prepared to run the risK, or if they take encouragement from the very fact that God is merciful and that the Gospel is a plan of such womieiful com passion, to say they will not believe that He will keep to His warnings, then surely the holiness of God is at >-t*ke ; He is pledged to fulfil His threateaings to the letter. Yes, here Stands the plain and ominous word, "Many, 1 say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.'' . 11. Our second remark is, that some <*re refused because they seek entrance in the wrong way. They go, as it were, to a wrong gate. If i might put it in a very simple way, pardon has many gates ; but they are all locked except one. The great public gate of righteousness, by which anyone was entitled to enter, was long ago shut up. It is so long since it was used that the key has been lost, and, indeed, the look is now so ruoty, and the hinges are so old, that the gate would not open in any case. The gate of saorifict, by which a man who had done mnoh for the cause might be ad initted in consideration of his great gifts and much suffering, is one the key of which never was found, though many have looked for it. The gate of private favour never was a real gate at all, but only a mock one, made in imitation of a gate, and supposed to he one by which people of influence and rank might be passed through. But it never was so. Ail men must enter on the tame terms.

The gale of respectability, by which it was supposed that a distinction would be made on behalf of those in good clothes and of a fair character, who had never done much wrong, or at least never been found out in doing it, is also only an imitation gate, and no one finds entrance there. The only mode of entrance is by one strait gate, very narrow, and to appearance very unpretending, and those who do not seek to enter by that cannot do so at all. To drop the metaphor, and speak in plain termi, it seem 3 to many extraordinary to be told that they need do nothing to obtain an entrance. But this phrase can obviously be understood in two ways, one of whioh is wrong and the other right. To "do nothing" might mean only to sit down and wait, not to be concerned about the matter, but to bo sure that it would all come right at last. That is the wrong way. To wait in this manner is only to find things getting worse every day. But to "do nothing" save believing, trusting, accepting what is already provided —ia something quite different, and that is the truth. We are not saved by doing anything. It is "to him that worketh not, but believetb." The truth that we can do nothing to de serve eternal life is one that teems very hard for a man to take in, partly because it is so different from the ordinary human ways of obtaining a great position, and partly because it is so humbling, and so unacceptable to human pride.

Doing oue's best seems to be so natural m such a case that the disappointment of learning that it can do no good is great. But is it not ho that the greatest efforts, if illdirected, are in vain ? In olden days lives of the greatest earnestness were devoted to finding .out the secret of perpetual youth and unfading life—some elixir by tasting which man would not die. All those efforts were spent uselessly—the thing could not be done ; and m»n not only failed, but suffered in trying the impossible. Mo it i« with the entrance into eternal life. Doing your best 1b just misdirected labour. It is knocking at the wrong pate, where there iB no opening. Not a soul has ever got to Heaven by that. After you have tried hard to keep yourself, and have been honest, and respectable, and well off, and well behaved in thir world -both Church and State giving you their guarantees—you may bo no nearer eternal life than (he rogue and vagabond who died last week in prison. You hove been at tha wrong gate all the time.

Nor is tho spectacle of a man in misery at the last any ground "f salvation for him. Our Lord Himself, who was tha tenderest of men, draws a very painful picture in a parable of a man who could get no rest from t'je orarings of inward and intolerable thirst, who orlod and cried again, but in vain. ' nd He tells us this, no doubt, just to show T5 that no such spectaole ' misery can ever move God to break His word, which is, that the bl"d of Jesus Christ accepted here and now iB the only way by which a sinnor own find admittance to the Kingdom of jjeaven.

111. Another reason why many are refused when seeking to enter is, that they try the right gate in a wrong way. To open a looked gate you must have the right key, Foroe and strain will do no good when *he key does not fit, but the most complicated lock turns almost in the hands of a child when the wards of that look and thft outtings of the key answer to each other.

Now, how many are trying to enter by the strait gate with the wrong key ! It may be wrong only in a small detail (something they do not understand); bat, you know, if there is the smallest part of the , key that does not fit, it is all the same as if it could not even enter the lock—the gate remains shut. Perhaps still more frequently the case is that men suppose the gate to be locked, while in reality the look has been opened already, aud they have only to turn the handle and walk in. *~ 7 hat folly to be try inn to open a lock which is unlocked already? What you want to do has been done. The gate is reilly open for you, if you but knew it This seems to me one of the most common causes of mistake about the Way of salvation. All that has to be done for the saving of a sinner has been done already by Christ when He died, and men are making the mistake of trying to do all over again. They are asking, " What must I do?" Why, the work has been done ! Cnrist bore your sins and bore their punishment, and you are asked to believe that that is so upon God's Word, and so to accept it for yourselves and find your portion there. In other words, you are told, "THE DOOR IS - , JUST WALK. IN." But people cannot think how this can be true, and they begin reasoning upon it as if that could alter the factor affect the Word of God. They will insist upon unlocking the open door 1 They ask for what God offers. They pray for salvation instead of taking it. They go on their knees crying for peace, instead of putting forth the hand to receive what God is holding out for them as their own if they will. CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY TO PARDON AND SALVATION. He has done already all that God requires for the acceptance of any sinner. The whole price has been paid and the whole penalty endured. The sinner has only to believe that this is so as God says, and to accept for himself. No one eeeko in vain who seek& to enter thus the Gate of Life ! It is a strait gate ! But it is open ! IV. Some people, on the other hand, cannot enter because they are so much afraid. You know what the effect of fear is—that it sometimes paralyses the hand, and often so confuses the mind that we know not what we are doing. Put a key into the hand of a terrified woman, and bid her open a lockfast door, aud she will probably be unable to use it. Her hands refute their office.

It is in such a state that unconverted men often find themselves when their sins rise before them in all their awfulness. Especially is this so sometimes upon a dying bed ; when tbey see what it is to be under the wrath and ourse of a holy God, and when they know that they are at the threshold of eternity and "judgment to come," they are afraid. They cannot gather in their thoughts to understand, or even to listen to, what is said to them. They cannot comprehend what the Gospel message means. This fear so reacts on the bodily weakness in the mortal sickness under which they labour that often men are not fit to be spoken to at all, and their friends and their doctor will not let them be seen on'such a subject. What can we say bnt that fear—a great fear—is in the way, so that they "seek to enter in, but are not able ?" V. Others, again, do not get admittance because they are not content to leave their tins behind. There are many such who would be glad to be Christians if they could only be so on their own terras. If Hod were not so rigid (as they think) in His demands, if they could go and spend an easy life after their own fashion—pleasing themselves, doing like other people; if they might simply live as respectable characters, and not have too much expected of them, they would be quite content. To show respect and reverence for the church, and to be "good enough sort of men on the whole," and so to comfort one's self when growing old with the thought that God will be merciful, this is the popular faith, and that will be the popular church which preaches it. Now, let me say in closing all this—for I would willingly end with a hopeful and comforting word—"Strive ye to enter in at the strait gate." There are different ways in which this is put in Scripture, a reference to which may be helpful. There is, first of all, a truth to be believed, viz., that Jesus Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree when He was crucified. That was the object of His deith. Dear reader, He came to do it for your sake. God says that this was the meaning of those awful sufferings on Calvary, and asks you to believe that this was so. Now, if you really believe God's Word to this effect, then in a moment you see that your sius were put upon Christ, and that they cannot be now upon you. The second aspect of salvation is the acceptance of God's gift—a free gift—purchased by Christ, which God holds forth to a sinner, willing to bestow it upon him. The gift is life—eternal life—of which Christ's blood is the price. It is entirely and utterly free to you, and you are asked to accept it and take it as your own. So soon as you do this you have a right to it as you by God. You can say that you " have everlasting life." The third aspect of salvation is a Saviour whom you are asked to accept and to trust. The Saviour is Jesus, who can satisfy all your need. He says Re has done all, and only asks to be trusted—that you should put yourself and your affairs into His hands, and He will pardon your sin, and He will keep you from falling, and He will make you fit for Heaven. "God is my salvatiov ; I will trust, and not be afraid." Mark, then, these three points :—Believe the truth that Christ has borne our sins in His own body on the tree. Aocept the gift of eternal life, which God offers you freely through the blood of Christ, through grace alone. Accept and trust the Saviour, who will take and do for you all that you need here and hereafter. Be in earnest about this matter now.

" STriIVK TO K xTKR IN AT THE STRAIT GATE,"

"BENEATH THE SHADOW OF HIS WING." Usdkr His wing, ah ! weary laden soul. Where wouldst thou flu I a safer hiding place? When restless, stormy billows o'er thee roll, And hidden, subtle foes thyppeea 'e menace, lieniember there thy we»ry soul may cling And rest beneath the shadow o(Hi wing. Oh ! sin-sick soul, and art thou wea~y crown Of ail that «r<twhUe s>'«med t < tine most sweet? Come, then, and taste of j ys before unknown ; In bumble faith approach the Merer Seat. While yet th# Goepe l bell doth sweetly ring, j Co >a, Hide thee 'neath the shadow of Mis wing. \ Oh ! tried be ievi-r, bath thy paih yrown drear And hid'ien from thee thy belove l one's face? Is thy soul filled with unbelieving fear? And cin'st thou not th» < ter's footsteps trace? Yet < f His loving kindne.s shalt th u sing, " hen safe beneath the shadow of His wing. Come storm or calm, securely we may dwell, What foe cm harm while we are aheUe ed there Our souls snail sing with joy, " All, all is well," And this shall bo our never ceasing prayer. '• Draw us, dear Lord, that we may closer cling, * Gather us 'neath the shadow of i'hy wing." —Li. H. T.